Entries open for 55th Governor’s Cup

The 55th Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship will be held in 2022 on July 25-30 in Newport Beach, CA.

The Governor’s Cup, the world’s oldest international youth match racing regatta, is an invitational event for sailors that have not reached their 23rd birthday by the last day of racing.

“While COVID is still unfortunately with us, we hope that significant improvement in the situation will occur before the July dates and that this year we will be again be joined by teams from New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom which was not possible in 2021,” said Christine Gribben, Chair of the event.

Returning in 2022 are two local teams that triumphed in 2021: Governor’s Cup winner Jeffrey Petersen and World Youth Match Racing Champion David Wood.

“To a certain extent, this year will be a ‘changing of the guard” as a number of young match racing champions like former GovCup winner Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL) and 2019 Youth World Champion Tom Grimes (AUS) have ‘aged out’ of the Cup this year,” said Selection Committee member Andy Rose. “But, with the rankings of Petersen and Wood and the other potential age-eligible invitees, we still could end up with a Grade 2 quality fleet, or even Grade 1 as we were in 2018.”

Grading of events by World Sailing is based primarily on the “Open” (non-age-limited) rankings of the skippers. In 2018, the Governor’s Cup was retroactively regraded to Grade 1, the first youth match racing regatta to achieve that level, normally reserved for events with most, or all professional sailors.

The 2022 Governor’s Cup has initially applied as a Grade 3 regatta so if an upgrade is appropriate after the field is confirmed, it would be retroactive as was the case in 2018.

The event is sailed in identical Governor’s Cup 22 sloops provided by the Newport Balboa Sailing & Seamanship Association and host Balboa Yacht Club. They were designed by Alan Andrews and feature fractional rigs, flat top mains and masthead spinnakers.

For event details and to request an invitation, click here.